I technically finished the four books this challenge required…but I didn’t finish what I’d set out to do. I am undecided if I should carry over ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Silmarillian’ to 2009 or not. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see!

Did you finish reading all the books on your fall reading list? If not, why not?

All but three, and those three were long. In fact, two of the three were multiple-books-in-one. I didn’t even attempt them really.

Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?

I added three books to make up for the three I knew I wasn’t going to get to. But I stuck with the rest…which was a pleasant surprise for me!

What was your favorite book that you read this fall? Least favorite? Why?

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix was a GREAT GREAT GREAT read. The book I struggled with the most was the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo. A book that was easy to finish but that I didn’t care for overall was Madapple. I know some bloggers love it. But I didn’t quite.

Did you discover a new author or genre this fall? Did you love them? Not love them?

The only new authors I read for the challenge were Jeanne Birdsall and Astrid Lindgren. I love the Penderwicks, they were fun. Those two books are all about the characters and very little about the plot. Pippi was GREAT because the illustrations by Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola fame) added something fresh to the book. And the book itself–the text–is just funny.

Did you learn something new because of the Fall Into Reading challenge — something about reading, or yourself, or a topic you read about?

I learned that The Count of Monte Cristo is best kept abridged. OR to rephrase that, I think it needs Richard Pevear to come along and translate it. He did wonders with The Three Musketeers–talk about magic!!! If he can make it sparkle throughout…the book–as is–does have a powerful ending–the last two hundred pages are amazingly breezy to get through. But it’s a journey.

The 100+ Reading Challenge has its own blog, its own yahoo group, and its own shelfari group. The goal was to read 100 or more books in a given year.

I know there are several weeks still to go on this challenge. But I’ve just totaled up my books from January 1 to November 30th, and I was at 377 books. (Not counting picture books.) For a list of each month’s totals (title, author, page number, rating) visit my livejournal blog.

January 20
February 30
March 30
April 41
May 37
June 41
July 32
August 37
September 22
October 37
November 50

I’ll also be posting–either December 31rst or January 1rst–a total list of books read during the year.